First Nations commissioner warns against Queensland adoption push

Australia's commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, Sue-Anne Hunter, has issued a strong warning against Queensland's consideration of a controversial recommendation to bolster adoption practices. Hunter stated unequivocally that "adoption is not the answer" and argued that such a move would "fall hardest" on First Nations children, who constitute nearly half of all children in state care. She expressed concern that permanent legal removal of a child from their people, even if framed as being in the child's best interest, echoes the justifications used during the Stolen Generations. "We've heard this justification before. Every removal in the Stolen Generation was framed as protection in their best interests," Hunter told the ABC. The child safety inquiry's report, published last month, recommended that adoption should "not be limited by cultural background or ethnicity," despite significant opposition from First Nations stakeholders. The report also claimed there was no evidence that racism motivated decisions to remove Indigenous children from their families. While Hunter agreed that permanency is crucial for children and that removals from unsafe situations are sometimes necessary, she emphasized the need for early intervention. She criticized the recommendation as indicative of Queensland moving "backwards" on the issue. "If we look under the national agreement of closing the gap, our governments have already accepted that this over-representation is driven by colonisation, trauma and systemic racism," she stated. Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has publicly supported increasing adoption rates, calling the current rate "completely unacceptable." He noted that since 2019, no child had been adopted from residential care. However, Dr. Jo-Ann Sparrow, president of post-adoption support group Jigsaw, suggested that adoption had become less visible in recent years due to evolving practices among governments, practitioners, and communities.

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adoption is not the answer